Knowledge transfer for technology based interventions: Collaboration, development and evaluation

The development of technology based interventions for healthcare requires collaborative working between multidisciplinary groups of scientists, engineers, designers, healthcare professionals, and of course end users. This necessitates transfer of knowledge between the various disciplines, preferably underpinned by defined methodologies. This paper documents the experiences of developing and evaluating two prototypes: the first for tele-rehabilitation of stroke and the second for self management of long term conditions. We have identified two knowledge transfer challenges: domain inspired technology development and prototype evaluation and exploitation. Users should influence the nature of the technology, but decisions must also be informed by technical considerations and possibilities for both hardware and software design. This is a two-way flow of information. How a prototype is taken forward into mainstream practice requires knowledge transfer from academia into the clinical and commercial sectors. Research funding enables both formative and summative prototype evaluation, but does not extend to examination of population based effectiveness, which is the evidence most often sought by health commissioners. A process which provides the necessary underpinning for robust evaluation is proposed.